By MARVIN HAMLETT
Editor
For the second time in a month, a suspected indoor marijuana growing operation has been busted in Appomattox County.
This time, the pot sting involved approximately $23,000 worth of marijuana in different stages of production at the home of a Promise Land couple.
William Edward Stanley and Laura Lee Stanley, both 32, have been charged with felony manufacturing and selling marijuana.
Mr. Stanley has also been charged with possession of a sawed-off 12-guage pump shotgun, which was one of nine firearms that were seized from the couple's home.
The Stanleys live at 1182 Bent Creek Road in southern Appomattox County.
The arrests were the result of a sting organized by the Appomattox County Sheriff's Department in coordination with the Central Virginia Drug Task Force.
The Task Force served a narcotics warrant at the Stanley residence last Thursday. In addition to the drugs and firearms, police also seized $317 in cash, scales and other equipment consistent with the manufacturing of marijuana.
The investigation is ongoing, said Investigator Donnie Simpson of the Appomattox County Sheriff's Department.
The Stanley's were released on bond after being processed at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail in Amherst.
Appomattox Sheriff Barry Letterman said, "This search warrant exemplifies my commitment to investigating, and arresting, those involved in the production and distribution of illegal drugs in Appomattox County."
Last Thursday's bust follows a similar bust in December, when Appomattox deputies executed a search warrant on a suspected indoor marijuana operation in the Evergreen community.
The Evergreen sting resulted in the seizure of approximately $90,000 of marijuana and related materials. It was also being called the biggest indoor marijuana bust in the history of the County.
In the Evergreen incident, Gentry Marshall Maddox, 41, and his wife, Marjorie Anna Maddox, 39, were each arrested for felony manufacturing of marijuana, as well as felony possession of a firearm while manufacturing more than one pound of marijuana.